Readers Can Be Tough Critics, Indeed

December 26, 1986|By Paul A. Camp, Restaurant critic.

Every year we turn over this space to readers for a couple of issues to let them lavish praise on the restaurants they enjoy and gripe about the restaurants that drive them to the bar. This year, as in the past, complaints outnumbered kudos better than 3 to 1.

Perhaps because of all the publicity various dread diseases received this year, concern about unsanitary practices topped the list of complaints. For example:

``I, along with many other restaurant patrons, feel there is a definite health hazard, which `calls for action`! It is frightening to see how many thoughtless people, both sexes, who will use the lavatories and neglect to wash their hands before leaving.

``It is upsetting to see supposedly intelligent and well-informed people who are so careless in their personal hygiene. It is a disgusting practice, as others must grab the same door handle when returning to the dinner table . . .`` writes Joseph F. Wagner of Chicago.

Comment: With practice, you can avoid touching door handles with your clean hands, opening the door with your elbows instead. By the way, just whose restroom were you in where you observed ``both sexes`` failing to wash their hands?

``A pox on waiters or waitresses who cough in their hands--and never stop and go to wash their hands,`` adds James Bunds of Chicago. ``. . . Imagine a Taco Bell employee making my burritos sneezing into both hands--and continuing to roll them. Her excuse? I have a cold. What do you expect me to do!``

Comment: A pox on you for eating at Taco Bell.

``Recently I ate a meal at the Rascal House Restaurant in Miami. I noticed that they insist that the customer take home any leftover bread or rolls. This is to prevent any customer from being served food that could have been contaminated by a previous diner. I am informed by the Skokie health director that unwrapped foods may not be re-served, but apparently this is a common practice. I feel that all restaurant operators should send leftover rolls home with the customer or immediately dispose of them,`` says Michael S. Symon, Skokie.

Comment: The rolls or the customer?

As usual, many letter writers had problems with service in restaurants. Willard G. Fraumann raves about the food at Ciel Bleu, but basically considers the waiter he encountered there a raving idiot. Fraumann waited for 45 minutes before he could stop a passing waiter, get a menu and place an order. It took 1 hour and 15 minutes more before he could get some rolls to stave off starvation. He continues . . .

``The food itself . . . was superb. However, to cap off what was already an unpleasant experience, the waiter stubbed the sauce carrying the cream pitcher on the edge of the table, spilling cream all over the table, my suit and my wife`s light blue silk dress. The maitre d`, standing 5 feet away, basically ignored the whole incident, other than to ask the waiter, `Did you do it?` No one asked if they could bring soda water. No one tried to treat the stains. No one bothered to cover the spilled cream . . . . No one even apologized for the waiter`s clumsiness.``

Comment: Why didn`t you take the civilized approach to solving this problem? Punch the jerk. Or to save cleaning bills: Dine nude.

Mrs. John J. Dzakovich of Arlington Heights visited the same restaurant, but experienced precisely the opposite problem. In general, she also praises the food, but writes that she and her companions were given the BIG RUSH. They gobbled down dinner. Then when it was time to order dessert, Mr. Dzakovich asked about the hot apple tart:

``The waiter looked at him as if he asked for a free meal! He began mumbling about the time involved for preparation and said he would have to talk to the captain. If we had known we needed permission to order an apple tart we would have been certain to bring a note from home. When the waiter returned, he told my husband that he would make the apple tart, but my husband should have known that the (tart and) souffle should be ordered with his dinner. The waiter attempted to make us feel that we were ignorant and at fault.``

Comment: Of course, any dolt knows that hot tarts must be ordered with their dinner when the restaurant is overbooked and desperate for your table. A note from home might have helped, though. One along the lines armed robbers use: ``Give me your tart or I`ll blow your head off.``

Unfortunately, some letter writers missed inclusion in the annual gripe-fest from the start. Take R. L. Haring, for example, president of Van Hecker- Haring, Inc. Advertising in Lincolnwood. He muffed his chance when he started his letter ``Dear Mr. Silverman . . . We have noticed your articles on various good restaurants in the Chicagoland area . . . .``

Comment: Mr. Silverman is a fine fellow, but he hasn`t written for this paper in some years. You`d think an ad guy would do his homework. Thanks for the lesson in humility.

Then there was the writer who used the name Eureka Thinbladder and warned of the common practice in restaurants of spitting on any food sent back to the kitchen. Nice try, but no banana, Eureka, whoever you are.